Like most traditional foods, many people are reluctant to try something different as they assume that there can't really be much that can be improved on when it comes to a basic staple such as rice. Either you do it right, or you make the sort of stuff that accounts for 99 percent of what's sold in supermarkets.
I guess buying Italian rice however is akin to picking up a block of cheese simply labelled ‘cheddar' - there are huge variations in quality from one source to the next.
The Principato di Lucedio is one of only a handful of small rice growers left in Italy, one of the remaining independents that has chosen the challenging path of marketing its rice on its own, under its own label. Unlike the big packers Principato di Lucedio use only rice grown on their own land without the use of chemicals, sprays or pesticides.
The estate lies in the northeast corner of Piedmont an hours drive from Turin. The land in this part of the world is flat, essential for keeping the rice fields properly flooded. The seasonal cycles of planting and harvesting have changed little over the centuries. In the later winter months, the fields are dug up, the earth turned over. In early spring young shoots re transplanted from seedbeds. The fields are then flooded with water, which originates in the mountains (the area is less than a hundred miles from the Alps) and moves through the plains in a series of ancient underground rivers and man made canals. The rice shoots sprout through the waters surface and later expands into a lush green field. In the summer the fields go from green to gold as the grain ripens and in the autumn the field are drained and rice is harvested.
The final processing of the rice is spread out across the rest of the year and allows the kernels to age, which ensures more complete drying and superior cooking properties. The results are rice grains, pleasantly plump, oval and a pearly white far fatter than the thin long grain rice that most of us are familiar with.
When you are next buying rice give this a try. Rice from The Principato di Lucedio has no equals.
